


It might be Christmas

by twdeadfanfic



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 01:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17152922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twdeadfanfic/pseuds/twdeadfanfic
Summary: Christmas inspired one-shot! I hope you all are having a good holiday if you celebrate it or just a good day!  Some holidays vibes in TWD word. English’s not my first language so maybe there’re some mistakes, I apologize in advance.





	It might be Christmas

Tracking the pass of time without calendars or anything was hard, harder and harder as days, months, years passed by, but as you shivered and wrapped your fluffy coat tightly around you, there was no doubt winter must be there.

“I hate this place.” You muttered through chatting teeth.

You had been at the Sanctuary for months, half a year you’d dare to say if you could track the time better, and still you hadn’t found anything you liked about it. The place was ugly and creepy, as ugly and creepy as an old abandoned factory which had been inhabited by those murderers who had killed so many of your people could be. And on top of everything, now that winter seemed to be there, it was awfully cold.

There had been some attempts to make the place better, rebuild what had been broken at the war, take away everything Neganish, try to make it something better where people could thrive, even creating gardens with the seeds Maggie had reluctantly sent from Hilltop. You had your doubts it’d work, though. Or maybe Daryl’s wariness and dislike of the place had rubbed on you.

Admittedly, Daryl Dixon was the only reason you were in the Sanctuary at all. You couldn’t bear the idea of him having to live alone there, not only in a place that he hated but in which he had been tortured and traumatized. You couldn’t understand why Rick had sent Daryl there, how he couldn’t see how wrong it was.

When Rick had said he wanted Daryl to lead the Sanctuary, Daryl had made it clear he didn’t want to but had ultimately accepted as Rick kept insisting. You, though, had fought it with everything you had, arguing with Rick for days, to the point you two stopped talking for almost two weeks, until Michonne interceded and made you two ‘bury the hatchet’, so to speak. You still thought that send Daryl there had been a bad decision and couldn’t really forgive Rick for it, but Rick was family, after all. You just hoped he’d get to see how bad it had been to Daryl and he’d apologize eventually.

“There.”

A heavy blanket fell over you and you looked up to find Laura wrapped in another.  You two usually shared shifts up in the roof, watching the perimeter to make sure no threats would come. And said roof was damn cold, especially at night, no matter you had built some sort of lookout on it.

“And I also have this for the cold.” Laura waved a bottle of whiskey in front of you and you snorted.

“Very professional, drinking during our shift.”

“Just until we heat up.”

“Yeah sure.”

You chuckled, grabbing the bottle and taking a sip before passing it back to Laura. You were surprised you got along so good with her, and you were starting to wonder if maybe, maybe, you were becoming friends. You didn’t know if you liked it or not. When you had first arrived at the Sanctuary you had been mistrustful and wary of the ex-saviors…hell, you hated them to death for what they had done. Most of them were assholes, though they were behaving better than you had expected, for their own good. There had been some fights at the beginning, but it had been some saviors themselves who had put an end to that, keeping the most hostiles on bay.

Still, the Sanctuary was like a bomb about to go off most of the time. It was hard to keep it in control, it was hard to prevent fights from breaking, especially between ex-saviors and the people they had used more like slaves than like workers. It was hard to keep the Sanctuary going instead of crumbling down…sometimes you thought it’d be best if it fell, but probably Rick was right and that’d only create more problems and fights.

Having to lead the place was taking a toll on Daryl. He had never wanted to be a leader, he didn’t like it, you knew it. He always seemed stressed and tired. He hated the place and you were sure he was pretty much miserable there, no matter he didn’t complain that much. You hated Rick couldn’t see it…you rather think that Rick didn’t see it than that he actually didn’t care. He and Daryl were brothers after all. But hell, this was unfair and you’d yell it to Rick every chance you got.

So yes, your maybe friendship with Laura surprised you. But you had to admit that as months passed, you began to get along better with some of the lady ex-saviors, especially Laura. They weren’t that bad, you guessed. Sometimes it was hard to think that they had been some of the people who had done such hideous things to you under Negan’s lead.  And you were no fool, ladies like Laura or Arat had done terrible things, had been on Negan’s first line of action, no matter how niceish and on your side they seemed now. You weren’t sure if you could ever forget and forgive. But hell, you enjoyed your shifts with Laura.

People, even people who might seem nice, were able to do terrible, terrible things, under the right circumstances, you supposed. It was a depressing thought and you’d rather not think about it.

“I’ve always hated winter, spring can hurry up.” You grumbled.

“You gotta wait for a looong time,” Laura replied after taking a sip. “But hey, winter means Christmas.”

“Yeah, sure, like we celebrate Christmas anymore.” You rolled your eyes, the cold making you cranky. “We don’t even know in which day we are.”

“It doesn’t matter, you buzz kill. Actually, I’ve heard some people talking about exchanging gifts.”

“For real?” You couldn’t help it, the idea of celebrating Christmas anymore sounded a bit dumb.

“Can you blame people from wanting to enjoy life a bit?” Laure shrugged.

No, no you couldn’t. After everything you all had gone through in this wasted, deadly world, you all deserved to enjoy the little good things left in life. You guessed exchanging christmasish gifts with their loved ones was another way of enjoying life and showing people you cared for them, no matter the idea of Christmas in this world still sounded strange and a bit silly to you.

“Don’t think we’re getting Daryl to decorate this place for Christmas.” You said with half a smile, making Laura snort.

“No shit.”

“And are you getting someone a present or what?” You asked Laura.

“I brought you whiskey, didn’t I?”

“It seems to me you’re drinking my present.”

The more you thought about it, the more you liked the idea. It might be silly but it was also a little way to show your love to people. You weren’t very sure Daryl would be into it, but it might be the chance to give him that thing you’d found on a run and had made you think of him, and that you still hadn’t given to him, unsure if he’d like it or not.

“I might give someone a gift too then.” You decided.

“I wonder who that someone might be.” Laura mocked as if she didn’t know fully well who you were talking about. “I don’t know Daryl that much but he doesn’t seem into gifts.”

“He’s more thoughtful and attentive than he might seem.” You replied, though you were doubtful yourself. The thing you had in mind as a gift was nothing useful, and you weren’t sure if Daryl’d think it silly or not. You decided not to over think it, after all he had come back for runs with things for you a couple of times, like a book you had read a dozen times by now and a jasper you had turned into a pendant.

“Don’t tell anyone I told you or else she’d break my nose, but Arat’s making a bracelet for Rosita.” Laura gossiped.

“Really?!”

“Yep…but I think it’s more because she’s trying to get into her pants than because of Christmas.” Laura giggled.

“Pff… good luck with that.” It was hard for you to forgive the saviors, you didn’t think you’d ever do it, but Rosita was even harder than you on that, you couldn’t see her having anything with one of them, no matter how decent they seemed now…but who knew. “I don’t blame her, though, Rosita’s worth crushing on.”

“Now, now, something you want to tell me?”  Laura teased.

“What, that I had a little crush on Rosita? Yes, and I’m not embarrassed about it.” You shrugged, taking another sip of booze. “Have you seen her? I was really taken by her when I met her. She’s just so beautiful, and she’s so smart and resourceful, and such a badass…and I’m going to stop talking now.” You laughed.

“My, I’m going to tell all this to Daryl.” Laura joked, laughing with you.

“I let you know that he knows!” You announced triumphantly. “And he also knows that I love him, so.”

You always reminded him, though, especially now when he seemed to be having such a hard time living in the damn Sanctuary. You knew he needed to feel loved, now more than ever, even though he’d never say anything like that, and so you did your best to be there for him when he needed it the most. You knew he was grateful you were there with him, that he loved you too, he showed it in his own Daryl way.

“It’s just I thought you guys had been together since forever.” Laura shrugged.

“Not at all, but I’d been crushing on him since forever.” You chuckled quietly. “But I didn’t think he looked at me like that.”

Daryl had found you and taken you to the prison with his group, and it hadn’t taken you long to fall for the archer, but you didn’t think he was interested. You hadn’t gotten together until Alexandria, the worst timing in your opinion, with everything you all had gone through. You didn’t regret it, though, but it had been hard, challenging. You had been together for only a couple of months that cursed day when Negan showed up in your lives, killing your friends and taking Daryl away from you.

He wasn’t the same when he came back, which you could understand, it took him a slow, long while to go back to himself, but you knew he was still haunted by that night and his time in the Sanctuary. You tried to help him through it, but you knew it wasn’t easy. The war with the Saviors hadn’t helped your relationship either, but you were grateful you’d had Daryl and his support during all those challenging times. You loved him, and he loved you, and that was what mattered.

Oddly enough, during your time at the Sanctuary your relationship had settled, no matter the place was far from ideal.

“How did you two end up together, then?” Laura asked you and your wandering mind came back to the present.

“I’m not even sure myself…guess we just grew closer and closer. I knew I had feelings for him, and once Daryl admitted to both himself and myself that he had to, well, it happened. It was slow, you know…” You both had taken it slow, more for Daryl than for you, he didn’t seem used to having a relationship or to be so close with someone, and to that you had to add how hard it was for him to get used to Alexandria too, but you didn’t mind it, you had loved to follow his pace and you enjoyed every moment.

The first time he’d kissed you, when you both had barely talked about your feelings at all, since it made him uncomfortable and embarrassed, had been after that massive herd of walkers had ripped through Alexandria. Or rather, it was you who had kissed Daryl, relieved to find both of you were okay and that he was back, and then he had kissed you back.

You still remembered that kiss as if it had happened yesterday, the way in which your heart had started beating fast, fast, excited and elated, the feeling of his lips brushing yours and his arms around you, how insecure he had seemed when your lips parted until your smiled to him in bliss and he gave you his lovely crooked smile. You could feel yourself smiling like an idiot at the memories.

“I ain’t got time for slow no more, by this point I’ll just be happy to have a handsome face to warm me this cold, cold winter, you know,” Laura said and you both chuckled. “But you got the hottest one around.”

“I know, so hands off. You can look, though.”

“Not fair.”

When hours later your shift finished you went to your room, but Daryl wasn’t there even if it was late at night. Not that it surprised you. You went looking for him and found him in the garage, illuminated by the light of the bike he was tinkering with. Daryl took his knife when he heard someone approaching but sheathed it again when he saw it was you. You understood it, when you walked around the Sanctuary alone you always had your hand on the holster of your gun, still suspicious of saviors deciding to attack you no matter how many months had passed.

“Hey, handsome.” You wrapped an arm around his waist and kissed his cheek.

“Have you been drinking?” He could probably smell the whiskey.

“Just enough to warm up a bit…that lookout is damn cold.” Not that the garage was warm either, Daryl’s hand was cold as you laced your fingers together.

“A leader would lecture you about drinking during working hours.” Daryl arched an eyebrow at you, smirking.

“Leave that to Rick, you can write him a letter if you want.” You chuckled. “Why aren’t you sleeping? It’s late.”

“I ain’t tired.”

“You look tired.” You pointed out, the dark circles under his eyes permanent now.

Daryl barely let himself have proper rest and it worried you. He was always stressed or worried about something, always working on something at the Sanctuary or going out hunting or on runs when he couldn’t stand to be in there anymore. You tried to be there for him, but sometimes you wondered if it was enough.

“Come on, come with me to bed, please?” You tugged at his hand. “Or else I’d turn into an ice cube.”

Daryl rolled his eyes, murmuring how exaggerated you were, but he leaned over to kiss your forehead before wrapping an arm around you, and you leaned into his warmth as you both walked to your room.

Once in bed, curled up with Daryl under what he thought were too many blankets but you didn’t agree, you finally weren’t cold. You pulled back from the embraced to lean over Daryl, looking at him.

“You know, I was talking with Laura and she thinks it might be Christmas or around the time.” You began, wondering what Daryl might think about the whole thing.

“How can she know it? We have no calendars or nothing, I ain’t even sure if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, or what, no more.” Daryl frowned.

“It’s just a guess, cos we’re in winter, that for sure.” You explained. “So there are some people who are going to exchange holiday gifts and all that.”

“That’s stupid….” His frown had just deepened and you let out a sigh. It wasn’t going that well, but not worse than you expected.

“I know.”

You didn’t say anything else, you rested your head on Daryl’s chest and closed your eyes. You couldn’t sleep, though, feeling the nervous pitter-patter of his fingers over your arm. You didn’t ask him, waiting for him to speak when he felt like it.

“You want to celebrate it.” It didn’t sound like a question.

“It’s not that.”

“But you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset, Daryl.” You propped up your chin on his chest to look at him seriously.

“Okay…” He didn’t seem very convinced. You shifted to press a kiss on his cheek and curled up with him again.

“I’ve never celebrated Christmas or nothing,” Daryl said quietly after you both stayed silent for a little while. With the things Daryl had told you about his family and his life, it didn’t surprise you, though it still saddened you a bit.

“You could this year, maybe, if you want.” You offered softly.

“Not really…” Daryl looked at you as if he was afraid you’d be angry or upset. You reached out to stroke his cheek, smiling softly.

“Okay. I was never into Christmas that much, honestly.”

“Really?” Daryl seemed more relaxed now that he finally believed you weren’t angry, and he began to run his fingers through your hair, making you purr.

“It’s not that I hated it or anything, but I wasn’t too into it. I always ended up stressed during family gatherings. We were a big family, you know, and we always got together for the holidays, all of us.” So much time had passed and still your voice went tight with emotion as you spoke. “But my mother…she was really into Christmas, no matter how much she stressed about the food and what not. She started decorating the house the first week of December, we always had this big, big tree, full of red Christmas balls and lights, we’d spend a whole afternoon decorating it and then we’d drink hot chocolate, that was actually fun…” You tailed off, the memories were getting a bit too much.

Daryl didn’t say anything, you knew sometimes he still struggled trying to find the right words, but he cupped your cheek, lifting your face, and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to your lips that had you smiling again.

“You okay?” He asked you softly.

“Yeah, promise.” You smiled, pecking his lips again. “Let’s sleep, the sun’s coming up soon.”

Daryl shifted to curl on his side, his back against your chest, and pulled at your arm to wrap it around him. Smiling, you pressed a few kisses over his shoulder before holding him tightly to you. You closed your eyes and tried to sleep.

*

If you’d have paid close attention you’d probably had guessed Daryl was up to something, considering the way in which he was acting around you, even though he tried to hide it. The first clue must have been when the next night you walked into your room to find a tree branch in a bottle and a light-bulb painted red hanging off it, as some sort of Christmas ball. It was so thoughtful and lovely, you felt yourself warming despite the cold. When you asked Daryl he turned all adorably flustered, and so you decided to let him be.

A couple days after that Daryl came looking for you while you worked doing some food inventory.

“Turns out maybe you were right and it’s around Christmas…or at least that’s what everyone seems to think.” He passed you an envelope. “We got this from Alexandria.”

“You actually wrote Rick to tell him I was drinking while taking watch?” You joked, wondering why someone from Alexandria might have written you instead of just use the walkies.

“Open it.”

Inside the envelope, you found a handmade Christmas card. “Happy Holidays to uncle Daryl and aunt Y/N” was handwritten by Judith and also a bunch of colorful hearts. You opened it and inside it was one of Judith’s drawing of all you, Daryl, Rick, Michonne, Maggie…even Carl, everyone, though some of them you could only recognize them because they had their name under.

“How sweet is this?” You were smiling from ear to ear even though you were close to tears. Daryl wrapped his arms around you, pulling at you until your back hit his chest, holding you close, and he leaned to place a kiss to your cheek. “She’s the best little girl, isn’t she? We have to go visit her someday, she must be so big now.”

Daryl hummed a yes. He loved Judith, you knew it, and she loved her uncle Daryl. He was so good with her, it’d always warmed your heart seeing them together. Daryl was surprisingly good with all the kids, though, it wasn’t something you might not expect just by looking at him, but he was. Sometimes it made you want to have one of your own, Daryl’s and yours. But then you remembered the  kind of world you lived in. Not to mention how Daryl’d freak out if he knew.

You wondered when you could go to Alexandria to visit her, Rick didn’t like it when Daryl left the Sanctuary for too long and when he came to visit he wouldn’t bring Judith to such a place. You missed Alexandria, you missed your friends there, Michonne and Aaron, and missed Maggie too. You hadn’t even seen Maggie’s baby yet, you were dying to meet little Hershel, and you knew Daryl was too. You would never leave Daryl alone in the Sanctuary, though. You really needed to ask Rick to look for someone else, Daryl had had enough, he deserved to live somewhere else, a good place like Alexandria or Hilltop, with his family.

“We could wait until the weather is better, take the bike and ride to Alexandria for a quick visit,” Daryl told you.

“Sounds perfect.” You smiled at him, placing a hand on his neck and pulling his lips to yours.

*

Next day you saw Rosita wearing a new bracelet. You smirked, knowing how she had gotten it. It was actually quite nice, made from braided cord and leather, some metal strings here and there too.

“That’s a cute bracelet you got there…where you found it?”

“I didn’t find it.” Rosita blushed though he also seemed upset. “Seems that people had decided it’s Christmas and time to give gifys. It’s beyond stupid.”

“You sound worse than Daryl, congratulations.” You laughed. “Come on, whoever made it gave it a lot of thought and work, it’s sweet.”

“Yeah well…” Rosita let out a sigh. “A pretty bracelet doesn’t make everything right.”

That was true. You didn’t know what to say and so you just reached out to pat her shoulder and left her alone. Seeing her brand new bracelet, you decided maybe it was time to give Daryl his present. You couldn’t keep hiding it forever, you had taken it for him after all.

You found him alone in the garage. Now or never.

“Hey, can we talk?” You asked as you sat down next to him.

Daryl looked at you from the book he was reading. “There’s something wrong.”

“No, just…” You hated how awkward and shy you were feeling, but you couldn’t help it. “I’ve got something I want to give you…I know you’re not into Christmas but I found it on a run a little while ago…made me think of you…so…yeah…”

You decided to just stop babbling awkwardly and give it to him. You took it out of your pocket and dropped it onto his hand.

It was a tiny miniature of a chopper bike that you had found quite unexpectedly in a cabin where you’d been scavenging. It looked a bit like the bike Daryl used to have back at the prison when you met him, the one you learned had been his brother’s.

Daryl looked at it without saying anything and you began to fidget.

“It’s stilly, I know, it’s a just a toy but-”

“Thank you.” Daryl cut your awkward babbling.  It seemed he was at loss of what to say but the way in which he was looking from it to you was enough for you.

“You like it then?” You asked softly.

Daryl nodded, clutching the miniature on one hand while his other hand reached for you, pulling you closer. His lips found yours and you wrapped your arms around his neck, smiling into the kiss. “I love you.” He whispered against your lips, barely audible, as always, and as always it made your heart go crazy.

When your lips parted, Daryl stayed silent staring at the toy for a couple of minutes before looking at you again.

“I, erm…I got something too…got you something I mean…I don’t know if…” Daryl kept speaking and then trailing off and you couldn’t help your smile, he was just so cute sometimes. “Thought you might like…but I don’t know…didn’t know when…or if you…I…There.” He ended his rambling by rummaging into his pocket and dropping something onto your palm.

It was a bracelet similar to Rosita’s and hanging off it was a small, arrow charm made of wood.

“It’s perfect…” You whispered, brushing your thumb over the little charm.

“Yeah?” Daryl sounded unsure.

You nodded, not quite trusting your voice as you felt close to tears. It was so sweet. Daryl had been thoughtful enough to give you a ‘Christmas branch’ after you told him about Christmas with your family and your annual tree, you hadn’t been expecting a gift. And it was a perfect gift, you loved everything about it but especially the arrow. That was Daryl’s in every way, and you couldn’t wait to wear it.

“Arat helped me make it,” Daryl said when you still didn’t say anything. “Wasn’t sure if you were going to like it…”

“I love it.” You smiled, eyes wet. “I love you.”

Daryl grinned and your heart began beating like crazy again, he didn’t smile much lately and a smile like that was a rare sight. Daryl helped you tie the bracelet around your wrist and you leaned for another kiss.

“Thank you.”

*

That night you had to take watch and you were sharing your shift with Laura, so you made sure to show off your bracelet. You had thanked Arat for having helped Daryl to do that for you, and you had already shown it to Rosita and Eugine, barely able to contain your happiness, and you still smiled like an idiot every time you looked at your wrist.

You went to your room once your shift ended. You unlocked the door and walked into the dark room, making your way carefully to your nightstand to light up some candles and illuminate the place. You still had the ‘Christmas branch’ on it and also you had placed there Judith’s card, propped up against the wall.

Daryl wasn’t much for decoration, the only thing he kept on his nightstand were more candles and matches, and another knife. When you glanced at it now, though, you saw the miniature motorbike on it. Your silly small came back at it.

Maybe it wasn’t Christmas, maybe you were in January already or still in November, maybe celebrating the holidays made no sense any more, but at that moment you couldn’t be happier people had decided it was Christmas and you had gotten to exchange gifts with him. Not that you needed a special day to do so, but still, it was something to warm and bright your life in the dark Sanctuary, and something that’d keep you smiling for days.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! If you have time, please drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts about this!


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